美国军舰擅闯我国南海岛礁邻近海域的国际法实证分析

International Law Issues concerning the “Unauthorized Intrusions”of US Warships into the Adjacent Waters of Chinese Maritime Features in the South China Sea: A Positivist Analysis

自2015年10月的“拉森”号事件以来,美国频繁派遣军舰擅闯我国南海岛礁邻近海域,开展其所谓的“航行自由行动”,挑战我国南海的海洋权利和主张,严重侵犯我国在南海的领土主权。本文运用实证分析法,通过对近年来美舰擅闯行动进行数据统计、分类,归纳出美舰擅闯行动主要挑战的三类事项,即“军用船舶在领海的无害通过须获事先批准”、“西沙群岛的直线基线”、“南沙群岛部分岛礁的领海主张”。通过分析美舰挑战这三类事项的原因及意义,可得出这三类事项在短期内仍然是美舰擅闯行动挑战的重点,且该行动的挑战重心正转变为西沙群岛与南沙群岛并重。经过分析可以预判在未来可预见的一段时间内,美舰针对我国南海岛礁邻近海域的擅闯行动不会停止。据此,我国有必要尽快制定有效的对策应对美舰的擅闯行动。

Since the USS Lassen Incident in October 2015,the US Navy has been dispatching warships to"intrude"into the adjacent waters of Chinese maritime features in the South China Sea on a regular basis.In the name of so-called"Freedom of Navigation Operations"of the US Navy,such"unauthorized intrusions"actually challenged various maritime claims of China in the South China Sea,and seriously violated China’s territorial sovereignty in the region.With an empirical approach,the paper analyses the statistics of the US warships’"unauthorized intrusions"in recent years and generalizes features of these operations.The paper finds that these"unauthorized intrusions"mainly target at three categories of maritime claims:the prior authorization of warships into the Chinese territorial sea,the straight baselines of the Xisha Islands,and the legal status of some islands and reefs of the Nansha Islands.An analysis of the cause and significance of these operations concludes that in the foreseeable future,the aforementioned maritime claims of China remain main targets of"unauthorized intrusions".In addition,it is predicted that the focus of the US operations will be switched to the Xisha Islands as well as the Nansha Islands.Accordingly,the Chinese government must act promptly and effectively so as to forestall further intrusions of US warships.